


The Kids Aren't Alright

by the_huffster



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Depression, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Homelessness, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Physical Abuse, partial deaf Clint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:39:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_huffster/pseuds/the_huffster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Highschool is already hard as it is, but it's even harder when you're trying to pretend that you're not slowly falling apart.</p><p>Clint's shouldering his mess of a home life, Natasha is cracking from the self-induced pressure she's under, Scott's hoping if he's funny enough no one will notice he has no family, Wanda is slowly drowning in her grief, Thor just can't seem to be happy no matter how hard he tries, Bruce is letting himself get pushed around in an effort to control his anger, Tony is feeling as if the world is crashing down around him, and Steve is trying to fix all of his friends before himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The summary is awful, but hopefully this fic is not. Anyways, I've been on this weird high school AU kick and decided to just write my own.
> 
> The chapter's short compared to what the others are gonna be, but this is serving more as a slight introduction to everyone before everything starts falling apart.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” Clint muttered as he sprinted down the hallway, one strap of his backpack gripped tightly in his hand.

He was running late. Again.

Apart from not setting his alarm to go off, he had wasted time trying to find his hearing aid. He could have sworn he had set it on his nightstand the night before but it had been under the piles of scrap paper on his desk when he finally found it. Luckily, his dad had already left for work so he didn’t have to add that to the reasons why he wasn’t in first period; although he knew he was going to have to deal with that issue once he got home from school.

He shook his head and focused on getting to class, skidding to a stop once he reached the door. It took him another few minutes to try and even his breathing before he quietly opened the door. He wasn’t trying to sneak in, he was just trying not to interrupt his teacher.

A sheepish smile came to his face when he noticed everyone looking at him, shrugging at the knowing look Natasha gave him from her seat. Clint pointedly ignored the teacher as he made his way to his desk, quickly pulling out his notebook and pen. A nudge against his foot caused him to look over at Natasha, narrowing his eyes in a silent question. At her concerned expression, he gave her a reassuring smile before looking back at his notebook.

The last thing he wanted to do right then was go into detail about his evening, especially when the slight twinge of pain in his midsection was making a come back now that he wasn’t focusing on making it to school. He looked back at her when he felt her eyes still on him. He knew that look; it was the look of her not giving up on so easily.

In an effort to get back to focusing on trying to catch up on the twenty minutes he had missed, he gently tapped the purple hearing aid in his ear before giving her a thumbs up. He didn’t really care if she completely understood what that had meant, he just wanted to focus on class to try and get off the teacher’s shit list. He wasn’t looking for another detention.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bell has signaled the end of class and Clint quickly grabbed his things, rushing out of the room before his name could be called. He had made it halfway down the hall when he heard Natasha. He stopped and turned to give her a smile.

“Hey, Nat.” he said, hoping if he could talk fast enough he could avoid explaining why he was late. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Not so fast, Barton.” She said as she grabbed his arm, pulling him back so he was walking alongside her. “What happened this morning?”

“I forgot to set my alarm and misplaced my hearing aid.” He rolled his eyes. “Honestly, it’s not a big deal.”

“What about last night? You suddenly stopped texting,”

He shrugged as he kept walking.

“Clint, you okay?” Natasha asked him after a moment.

“Yeah. Just…you know, my dad being my dad.” He said simply. “It wasn’t that bad.”

It wasn’t a secret among their friends that his dad was a little…rough. But it wasn’t like he had any options as far family went. His mom was God knows where strung out on whatever she could get her hands on, his older brother was halfway around the world for the Army, and foster care was out of the question for him. Of course, his friends wanted to say something since he wouldn’t, but Clint had made it clear that he could handle it. After all, he only had to wait a few more months until he was eighteen. And then he would pack up what he could and leave, never giving his dad a second thought.

“But are you okay?” she repeated.

“I’ve had worse,” was all he said before he rushed off to make it to second period before the next bell.

The sound of locker closing to her right drew Natasha’s attention over to Steve, who was watching Clint walk away.

“Was he late again?” he asked as he walked over to the red head.

“Yeah. He said it was because he didn’t set his alarm,” she answered as they started heading towards their next class. “But I’m pretty sure he didn’t set his alarm last night because he was worrying about something else.”

Steve just nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“At least he didn’t show up with a black eye again.” Was all he could say, wincing once he said it. “Not that any reason is okay. I just…”

“I know.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

Over the years, they had all learned to take the small victories when it came to Clint. Any day he showed up with no visible bruises and could walk straight was a win in their books, as awful as that was to say. Of course, they all also knew how much better Clint was since his mom lost custody of him; Natasha would never forget him showing up to class in eighth grade with a stitched up bullet wound in his arm.

Steve cleared his throat slightly.

“You going to come to the diner with us after school?” he needed to change the subject; he knew how much it killed both of them to see their friend go through what he did.

“Can’t. Today’s practice,” Natasha sighed. “And it’s going to be a long one, which is always fun.”

“Do you even like ballet anymore?”

“I do. I really do,” she said softly. “I’ve just been in a slump lately and keep messing up. So I’m hoping today will break that.”

“Just…don’t push yourself too hard, alright?”

She gave a small nod and let the silence hang between them for a brief moment. And in that brief moment, Natasha kept going over all the wrong moves and slightly off form she had noticed during her last few practices. It was almost as if her talent that she had worked so hard to craft and perfect had suddenly disappeared overnight.

“Do you know where Scott was this morning?” she said when she felt Steve staring at her for just a little too long.

“He probably overslept. You know how he gets sometimes,”

It was true, of course. Scott had a habit of sleeping in, but he normally had contacted someone when he woke up. And, almost as if he knew they were talking about him, Scott rounded the corner at the end of the hallway. He gave a wave as he passed them, trying to get to his second period. He ran his fingers through his hair as he gave a yawn.

“Where were you?”

He winced at the irritated voice behind him. He had hoped that Wanda was too busy helping Thor with one of his classes that she hadn’t noticed his lack of presence. He turned around and grinned at her.

“I was sleeping.” He said simply before they continued walking down the hall.

“I called you before first period.”

“My phone was off. Besides, I’m here now. Safe and sound, see?” he said as he looked over at her. “And first period is study hall for me. I got all my homework done last night so…I got a pass for missing this morning.”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight the small smile that tugged at her lips. Scott just grinned and flipped his backpack around to his chest. He opened it and dug around for a few seconds, bumping into a few students. Wanda tried to steer him out of everyone’s way, but it just seemed that he was a magnet for colliding with everyone.

“What are you looking for?” she asked, amazed that he managed to lose anything in his backpack; it wasn’t that big.

“A-ha!” he pulled out a faded blue sweater and handed it over. 

“Where did you…?” she trailed off as she took the sweater, swallowing hard.

“Pietro let me borrow it a while back. I just…I kept forgetting to give it back.”

He didn’t miss the look that crossed Wanda’s face, and he suddenly felt like he shouldn’t have given her brother’s sweater to her at that moment. When she didn’t say anything, he let out a small cough just to try and shake his nerves.

“I mean, I know it was his favorite and I figured you’d want it back because you were probably looking for it and…” 

“Thank you, Scott.” Wanda said softly as she hugged the article of clothing to her.

“I, um…I’m going to head to Chemistry so I can feel like an idiot around Bruce and Tony.” He said suddenly, motioning ahead of him.

“You’re not an idiot,” she hated when he downplayed his intelligence; Scott was smart in his own way, and she just wished he could see it.

“You have to say that because we’re friends. But your confidence in me is all I need to get through my day,” he sent her a wink before rushing off, leaving a blushing Wanda behind.

“If he drops anymore hints, then he’s going to be spelling it out.”

Wanda jumped at Tony’s voice behind her. She turned and gave him a small glare before continuing to walk.

“Spell what out?” she asked. “And you know better than to sneak up on me,”

Tony rolled his eyes as he scoffed slightly.

“He likes you, Wanda. He’s been hinting forever,”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said sternly before walking away.

“I’m a genius, Wanda! I can see these things!” he called after her, laughing at the glare she shot over her shoulder at him.

“You shouldn’t tell her of Scott’s infatuation,” the sound of locker shutting followed Thor’s statement.

Tony looked at the tall blonde and shrugged. “He’s been hinting at it for years. At this rate, she’ll figure it out when she’s about to graduate college.”

Thor looked around and narrowed his eyes slightly. Tony had a pretty good idea of what the other man was looking for. Normally Bruce was right by his side on the way to Chemistry, but he had opted to rush to second period in order to avoid the small gang of bullies that had decided to make today hell for him. And even though he stood up for his best friend, Tony couldn’t always be with him during school. 

“He just wanted to get a good seat in class,” he said instead. “You swinging by the diner after practice?”

“Of course.” Thor nodded as they walked down the hall. “Is everyone going to be there?”

“Steve’s asking Natasha, but I think Bucky has ROTC or something stupid. And Pepper has her club after school,” Tony said as he checked his watch, picking up his pace to avoid being late. Again.

“It seems they always have other plans,”

“That’s what happens when you have no life.”

Thor furrowed his brow.

“But they do have lives. If they didn’t then they wouldn’t be living,”

Tony sighed and ran his hand over his face. He looked up at his tall friend and shook his head.

“Not everything is literal, buddy. I’ve gotta go. I’ll catch you later,”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Highschool is already hard as it is, but it's even harder when you're trying to pretend that you're not slowly falling apart.
> 
> Clint's shouldering his mess of a home life, Natasha is cracking from the self-induced pressure she's under, Scott's hoping if he's funny enough no one will notice he has no family, Wanda is slowly drowning in her grief, Thor just can't seem to be happy no matter how hard he tries, Bruce is letting himself get pushed around in an effort to control his anger, Tony is feeling as if the world is crashing down around him, and Steve is trying to fix all of his friends before himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back with a new chapter...yay! I meant to have this up over the weekend, but life and work got in the way.
> 
> Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

Bruce looked down at his notebook as he jotted down some equations, waiting for Tony so they could head to the diner. He chewed on his lower lip as he thought of his best friend, recalling the way he had seemed…off. It wasn’t a secret to him that Tony was panicking more than usual, even though his friend tried hard to hide it. Of course he wasn’t surprised Tony was feeling more and more anxious these days; after all, his dad was coming down hard on him. And any time he brought it up with him, Tony just assured Bruce that he had it under control; that he had been dealing with panic attacks for a few years and had learned to control them.

He glanced at his watch and frowned, starting to worry about his friend. He had seemed as if he was fighting off an attack, and Bruce was starting to fear that Tony was alone in a bathroom as he tried to calm himself down. He bounced his leg as he looked around in a hope that Tony was walking into the library at that moment.

“Looking for your boyfriend, Banner?”

Bruce closed his eyes when he heard Johnny’s voice. He had been trying to avoid his bully since fifth period, and so far he had been succeeding.

“Go away, Johnny. I’m not bothering you.” He said softly, keeping his head down as he closed his notebook.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” He said as he looked down at the smaller man. “I’m pretty sure you made me look like an idiot yesterday in front of my girlfriend.”

Bruce tried to keep the smirk off his face at the memory. Of course, it hadn’t been intentional; he had just been tired of Johnny acting like he was the best thing around when it came to history. He could feel Johnny glaring at him as he stood up, shouldering his backpack.

“Where do you think you’re going, Banner?” Bruce felt his body get yanked back, being forced to turn around and facing Johnny. “We’re still talking.”

He sighed and forced himself to look up at him. His jaw clenched as he waited for Johnny to start whatever it was he had in mind. He didn’t have to wait long before Johnny gave him a slight shove, going on about how it was kids like Bruce that proved there was a need for the bigger guys to assert themselves. Bruce wasn’t paying that much attention as he let Johnny push him and jab his finger into his chest; he was focusing on trying to stay calm.

Bruce knew there was no way he could actually beat up Johnny, but he knew if he let his anger get the better of him then it would just cause Johnny to getting more physical than he already was. And Bruce didn’t really need to explain to his dad why he had bruises on him. He wasn’t looking for another night of hearing his dad drunkenly belittle him.

He was so wrapped up in his head that he didn’t brace himself when Johnny pushed him again, which sent Bruce stumbling back and tripping over the chair behind him. He fell on the floor and let out a small groan as he pushed himself up on his hands.

“You know, Banner, for someone as smart as you, you are pretty useless.” Johnny laughed.

“At least I’m not an asshole,” Bruce muttered as he slowly got back up on his feet.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” the bully said through gritted teeth as he marched over to Bruce, his hand balling into a fist.

Bruce closed his eyes and prepared himself for the punch. He opened his eyes when he felt someone stand in front of him, letting out a small breath when he saw the back of Tony’s head.

“I thought you were allergic to books, Johnny.” Tony smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“This doesn’t involve you, Stark.”

“It kind of does. Not counting the fact that you’re trying to pick a fight with my best friend, there’s the issue of us being in the same room.”

Bruce bit his lower lip to keep from chuckling at the look of confusion on Johnny’s face.

“I didn’t think you were this stupid,” Tony sighed before clearing his throat. “Now that I’m here, there’s no need for two self-centered jackasses. I don’t like people doing my thing, so you need to leave before I make you leave.”

“You think you can beat me?”

“Put a hand on me, and I’ll sue you for assault.”

Johnny scoffed after a moment and shook his head.

“You can’t be with him all the time, Stark.” Was all he said before walking by them, pushing Tony with his shoulder.

The two friends turned to watch him leave. As soon as Johnny was out of the library, Tony flung his arm around Bruce’s shoulders and led him out of the room.

“What have I told you about picking fights with idiots without me?” 

Bruce shrugged as he looked at his friend. He noticed how pale Tony looked, and he knew exactly what he was doing. Tony thought if he could talk fast enough then Bruce wouldn’t notice that there was something off. And like every time this happened, Bruce wasn’t going to just let Tony distract him.

“What happened?” Bruce asked.

“What happened was I left you alone for five minutes and you start causing trouble.” He smirked, nudging Bruce’s shoulder playfully.

Bruce sighed and stopped walking. He gave his best friend a pointed look when he stopped as well. Bruce pushed up the sleeves of his slightly too big sweater, waiting for Tony to talk.

“It was nothing, Bruce. Just dear old Dad leaving me a voice message to remind me what a disappointment I am,”

“You haven’t even been home yet,”

“The school called to tell them about my indiscretions.” Tony rolled his eyes and started walking again, Bruce next to him. “So he took the chance to ask me why I can’t be more like Steve and continue to point out how much better Steve is than me.”

Bruce frowned slightly as he looked at his best friend. He hated watching Tony go through this every day, and he hated seeing Tony brush it off like it didn’t bother him. But he knew it bothered his friend, it bothered him so much that it was a main factor behind many of his panic attacks.

“Stop looking at me like I just had a dog die,” Tony said, a little bite behind his words. “We’re running late meeting everyone.”

“Have you tried talking to your dad about all of this?” Bruce asked softly as they walked out of the school.

“He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he says. As he told my mom once, he’s trying to light a fire under my ass so I can shape up.” Tony rolled his eyes and pulled out his keys as they approached his car. “Did you want to come over tonight to work on some projects?”

Bruce nodded and gave him a small smile. They got into the car and drove towards the diner in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was nearly midnight when Tony pulled up to Bruce’s house, looking over at his friend. The lights were on in the house and that meant Bruce’s dad was still up.

“You can stay at my house tonight,” Tony said softly.

“He’s probably already passed out. It’ll be fine.”

“Call me if you need anything, alright?”

Bruce got out of the car and leaned down to look at his best friend, giving him a small smile. 

“I can handle what he says to me, Tony. Drive safe,”

The passenger door shut and Tony watched as Bruce walked up to the front door, He waited a few more minutes before driving away when his friend didn’t come back out. The sound of his phone going off cut through the song that was playing, causing Tony to look over and roll his eyes when he saw the caller ID. He knew why his dad was calling him; he was out too late to simply just be dropping Bruce off and he needed to get back this instant. 

It took a minute before his phone stopped ringing. He stopped at the red light and grabbed his phone just as it lit up with a new text message. He was surprised when he saw his girlfriend’s name above the message; normally Pepper was already sleeping at this time. 

_You have time to talk?_

He swallowed hard as he read the message, his heart starting to race. Those words were never good. He tried to think of anything he did recently that could have pissed her off, but nothing came to mind. He tried to control his breathing as he looked at the text, jumping slightly at the sharp car horn behind him. He looked up and saw the light was green. He set the phone down and started driving again, trying to compose himself before he answered Pepper’s question.

Tony kept his focus on the road as he made his way back to his house, the whole time his mind rushing with reasons why Pepper would want to talk. It wasn’t long until he pulled up to his driveway and through the gate at the end of the pavement. He killed the car engine and picked his phone back up, looking at it as he tried to even his breathing.

Just as he was about to call, his phone lit up with his girlfriend’s name. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering it.

“Isn’t it a little late for you to be up?” Tony asked as he leaned back into his seat, his eyes closed while he focused on keeping his breathing even.

“Your insomnia is rubbing off on me.” He could hear the smile in Pepper’s voice.

He wanted to make some type of joke but the racing of his heart was making it difficult on trying to say something funny. His fingers clenched the fabric of his jeans as he tried to keep calm, knowing that having any form of a panic attack wouldn’t help his heart.

“Tony, you okay?”

“Yeah. You know…just enjoying myself.” He hoped she didn’t catch how he was struggling for air. “You said you…you wanted to talk?”

“Yeah, I…” her voice trailed off and she let out a small gasp. “Oh my God! Tony, I didn’t mean that kind of talk. Nothing’s wrong. I just couldn’t sleep and I know you don’t sleep…”

A breathless chuckle escaped him as he opened his eyes. 

“You could have just said you wanted to hear my voice, Pepper.” He said as he ran his fingers through his hair, feeling himself start to calm down. “Panic and me don’t really mix well,”

Tony couldn’t help but smile as he imagined the look of concern on her face.

“I’m okay,” he continued when she didn’t say anything. “Why can’t you sleep?”

He got out of the car as he listened to her tell him about why she wasn’t asleep, something about an essay or project or something. If he was being honest, he was just enjoying the sound of her voice and not really focusing on her words. Their conversation turned into pointless ramblings on both ends, not that either one minded. Tony made his way into his room and tried to keep his breathing even.

“You know if you need me to come over and keep you company tonight, I’d be more than happy to.” He smirked as he sat at his desk, slightly spinning his chair back and forth. “My dad’s already mad at me for taking too long dropping Bruce off, I might as well push it.”

“I am not about to be the reason you get in trouble, Tony.”

“Fine. Lose sleep for boring reasons,” he rolled his eyes and smirked when he heard her laugh softly.

“Is everything okay with Bruce?”

“Yeah. He wanted to give his dad time to pass out before he got home.” 

It was an hour before Pepper finally let out a yawn long enough to admit that she needed sleep. He chuckled and spun the chair around to face his laptop, booting it up as he listened to his girlfriend for a few more minutes.

“Promise me you’ll try to sleep?” she asked.

“I can’t help it if my genius thrives at night,” Tony could nearly picture the eye roll she was most likely giving him. “Love you.”

“Love you too,”

He smiled slightly as he hung up his phone, staring at his laptop screen. His eyes noticed a piece of paper on the corner of his desk. He narrowed his eyes as he picked it up, not sure how he didn’t see it when he first walked into his room.

‘ _Let me know how your appointment goes tomorrow. And don’t forget to take your meds. Love you, sweetheart_ ’

Tony smiled as he read his mother’s handwriting, his hand absentmindedly reaching for the pill bottle next to his laptop. He shook out one of the small pills into his hand and popped it into his mouth.  
He clicked on one of the many files that littered his desktop and ran his hand over his face. It was going to be another long night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was nearly three in the morning when Tony decided to take a break from one of his projects, reaching for his phone. He sent a text to Bruce, knowing that his best friend was mostly likely still up. And within a few seconds, Tony’s phone lit up with a reply.

_Dad’s still up and more vocal than ever._

Tony narrowed his eyes and stood up. He grabbed his car keys and quietly slipped out of his room, heading down the stairs. He sent one more text to his friend, letting him know that he was on his way to get him out of there. The last thing Bruce needed was to get the verbal attacks when he was at his house. Of course, no amount of Tony coming to sneak Bruce out was going to stop that; it just put off the abuse for a few hours.

Once he got into his car, he sent a text to Clint. Since he was breaking Bruce out of his house, he figured he could get Clint and the three of them could bitch about their fathers. He grinned when Clint replied within a minute.

_You supplying the booze?_

Tony laughed as he made his way to Bruce’s house. They were in for a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Tony, am I right?
> 
> Hope you guys liked this chapter. Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get written and then posted. Life and my job got in the way, and then I had to re-write this chapter when my computer deleted it a few weeks ago.
> 
> Hopefully, I won't get any more curve balls and can get back to updating this on a regular basis.

Scott sighed as he made his way out of the classroom, not really looking forward to leaving school. He swung his backpack up on his shoulder and took his time walking down the hall. The last thing he wanted to do was worry about wear he what he was going to eat for dinner, and where he was going to stay. He turned to lean his forehead against a locker and made a frustrated sound.

He wondered if it would be easier to just drop out and see what he could make of his life on his own terms. It wouldn’t be too much easier, but at least he wouldn’t have to pretend around his friends and keep trying to come up with excuse after excuse. Times like this made him realize how much Pietro had helped him out, but he didn’t have that anymore. And he couldn’t tell anyone else; they were all dealing with their own drama. He gently hit his head on the metal.

“I thought we talked about beating yourself up,”

His eyes snapped open when he heard Wanda behind him. He took a brief moment to collect himself and turned around, his usual smile in tact.

“I wasn’t beating myself up. I was just trying to think,” he said as he leaned back against the lockers.

“You don’t think things through, Scott, You just…do.” She rolled her eyes, although she couldn’t hide the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Why were you beating yourself up?”

He shrugged, still keeping his smile in place.

“The usual. I waited until last minute to do a paper and now I have to write five pages on something I don’t understand tonight.” It should have bothered him how easy it was to lie to one of his best friends. “But I’ll manage. Unless you want to give me a reason to put it off even more tonight?”

He inwardly winced at how stupid that sounded, and the number of different ways she could take the question. Scott actually winced at the confused look she gave him, her mouth opening to no doubt say something that would crush him. But whatever she was about to say was interrupted as he was pushed to the side, nearly falling to the floor. 

“Use your own locker to crash and burn,”

Scott narrowed his eyes at the kid who had pushed him. He readjusted his grip on the strap of his backpack before walking down the hall with Wanda. Silence hung between them as he waited to see if she was going to respond to his pathetic attempt at asking her out.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked instead, looking over at him.

“Technically, you already did.” He teased, laughing at the playful shove she gave him.

“Anyways…haven’t you worn that shirt for the past two days?”

His eyes went wide for a brief second as he looked down at his shirt, pretending to just now have noticed it. Of course, he already knew that morning that this would be the third day in a row he had worn the same outfit; but living out of his car didn’t provide him with much options, especially when he could only wash his clothes once a week if he was lucky.

“It was just on top of my clean clothes.” He lied as he looked at her. “I was running late again and…it’s either this or detention again.”

She gave him a smile but had noticed the flash of panic on his face. There seemed to be a lot of flashing panic whenever anyone mentioned something about picking Scott up or dropping him off, but no one else seemed to have noticed it. Of course, no one else really sat back and observed everyone like Wanda did.

“Is everything okay, Scott?” she asked as she stopped walking, turning to look at him.

“Everything’s perfect.” He grinned, giving a small yelp as he was pulled back and forced to look at her. “What?”

“I’m being serious. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. What about you? You okay?”

“We’re talking about you, Scott.”

He waved his hand in front of his face as if to dismiss what she was saying. If he realized how much that pissed her off, he didn’t show it.

“And now I’m talking about you. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to you without one of us having to rush somewhere.”

Wanda rolled her eyes and just shook her head.

“You know I’m fine. I’ve been doing better,”

He waved his hand again and she narrowed her eyes.

“You’re pretending to do better, Wanda. C’mon, I know you. I’m your best friend,” he said with a small smile, hoping that he could charm her into answering his question.

A few moments went by as she stared at him, clearly not amused by his antics. 

“You’re not that charming, Scott.” She said before continuing to walk down the hall. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He sighed as he watched her walk away. He knew he had made her mad, but it was the only way he could get the focus off of himself. He ran his fingers through his hair and made his way out of the building, going back to thinking about what he was going to do for dinner.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Why can’t he be honest? Or serious?” Wanda demanded as she made her way up the bleachers, sitting next to Clint. “Not everything has to be a joke or brushed off.”  
Clint looked up from what he was writing, smirking as he listened to Wanda rant. He had no idea how she did it, but whenever he nested himself at the top of the bleachers she seemed to know he was there. Not even Natasha knew he took a day out of the week to be on his own at the field after school.

“I’m assuming we’re talking about Scott?”

“Who else would we be talking about?” she asked, giving him a look that said he should know better. “It’s like he can’t process the idea that people care about him enough to want a serious conversation about him. No, instead he has to dismiss my concern and piss me off.”

“Have you told him this?” he asked as he went back to his notebook, continuing to write.

Wanda shook her head and sighed, leaning back against the chain link fence. She crossed her arms and looked down at the field below, watching the football team run through drills. It wasn’t hard to figure out which one was Thor; even though most of the other players were close to his height, he was by far the biggest in muscle mass. She made a mental note to hang around and wait for him after practice.

“Why can’t anyone just talk about what’s going on in their lives?” her voice was soft, almost as if she wasn’t sure if she should voice her question or not.

“Because we’re in high school. We’re supposed to be brooding in silence,” Clint answered, a playful tone in his voice. “But you know…maybe you should take that advice and talk about what’s going on with you.”

“It’s my own thing I have to deal with, Clint.”

“But are you?” he paused in his writing and looked back at her, smiling at her confused look. “Dealing.”

She looked away from him and focused on her shoes, smiling sadly when she saw the fading peace sign Pietro had drawn a year ago. She was grateful that Clint wasn’t pushing her into talking right away, but she also knew he had the patience of a saint and would wait forever for her to start talking again. 

“I know it’s ridiculous, and it’s been months. I shouldn’t be this sad but…”

“But he was your brother. And not just your brother, but he was your twin. I can’t even imagine how hard it is for you.” He gave her a small smile. “You can talk to me whenever you want, you know that right?”

She nodded, not trusting her voice at the current moment. They sat in silence for a while, both listening to the whistles and sounds of the football practice.

“Wanna read what I’m writing?” Clint broke the silence after it became too heavy, offering his notebook out to her.

Wanda gave him a smile as she took it, her eyes taking in the words on the page. She read it over and smiled, handing it back to Clint as she looked at him.

“It’s really good. What are you writing it for?”

“It’s my new song I’m working on. I figured it was time to get back to the guitar so…” he shrugged as he took the notebook, closing it before putting it in his backpack. “It’s a good way to take my mind off of things sometimes.”

They sat there for a while longer, just talking about random things until Clint said he had to get going. Wanda stood up with him and made the walk down the bleachers with him. Once they reached the bottom, she turned and gave him a hug.

“Thanks for letting me rant,” she said as a way of explanation when they pulled back.

“You’ve always got an ear to listen with me,” he grinned, chuckling at her eye roll.

“Be safe, Clint.” She said before walking towards the field, waving as Thor called her name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was nearly midnight when Clint knocked on Natasha’s window, grinning as she opened it. He climbed through and made his way over to her bed, kicking off his shoes and stretching on top of it. He had waited for two hours before his dad finally went to bed, taking the chance to sneak out of the house and see his friend.

“You okay?” she asked as she moved to sit next to him, her eyes taking him in to see if there were any new bruises.

It didn’t take long to see the fresh bruise around his ear; thankfully it wasn’t his good ear. That seemed to be the worse of the few she had noticed.

“Bad night,” was all he said as he picked up the book she had set on the nightstand. “Is it cool if I stay here for a few hours?”

Natasha knew better than to try and get him to tell her exactly what had happened. The fact that he had snuck over to her house and had told her it was a bad night was enough to let her know all she needed to. Clint normally never acknowledged what his dad did to him, unless it was really bad; they had developed their own code when they were fourteen so she could know when he was scared to be alone, and “bad night” was the code.

“Yeah. When do I need to make sure you’re up by?” she laughed softly as she caught her book when he tossed it her way.

“I need to be up by four,” he said as he lowered himself on to the mattress, getting comfortable; or as comfortable as he could in his clothes. “You okay with staying up? Because I can set my alarm if you want to sleep.”

“It’s fine, Clint. I’ve got you,” she assured him.

He gave her a tired smile as he settled into the pillow, mumbling a thank you as his eyes drifted shut. She rested against her headboard and watched him for a moment before she opened her book and went back to reading. She was going to be dead tired during school, but it was worth it if it meant Clint could sleep peacefully- even if it was just for a few hours.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, short intro chapter.
> 
> With that said, you should tell me what you think and leave some feedback because feedback is good.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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